"History Of Gymnastics"

Although gymnastics has existed for more than 2,000 years, its development as a competitive sport began only slightly over 100 years ago. During the 1800’s exhibitions were held by some clubs including the Sokols and Turnvereins. Gymnastic competition was probably born as a result of these exhibitions.

As an activity, gymnastics was introduced to the United States and its school system in the 1830’s. Gymnastics flourished in athletic clubs and such ethnic organizations as the Turnvereins and Sokols although it was slow to catch on in the schools. It was in the Turnvereins and Sokols that competitive gymnastics started in the United States after the Civil War.

However, the sport never really became popular in the world until the advent in 1896 of the modern Olympics.

The AAU assumed control of most amateur sports, including gymnastics in 1888. Prior to this time gymnastic competitions were disorganized and “championships” were held by various clubs and organizations. Before the AAU assumed the responsibility as the central controlling agency, it was impossible to arrive at any standards of competition regarding such ideas as amateurism, events, and especially rules. So, in 1888, when the AAU held its first championship gymnastic meet in the New York Athletic Club, rules of an unknown origin were used and resulted in considerable confusion.

However, by 1890, the North American Tumer-Bund joined with the AAU, and together they carefully established the rules for competition which were used for the next 30 years.

When the United States became interested in intemational competition in 1920, it became apparent that in order to compete successfully, rule changes would be necessary for the United States so that all-around gymnasts rather than specialists would be developed. Adjustments were made in 1921 and then again in 1953 so that the rules would cover the traditional United States events and international events as well.

Perhaps the men most responsible for AACJ leadership and rule changes during these critical years were Roy E. Moore and George J. Gulack. Moore was chairman of the National AAU Gymnastic Committee from 1920 until his death in 1957. It was through this position that he enthusiastically directed the post-World War II revival of gymnastics, although his greatest accomplishments were probably promoting American participation in Olympic competition starting in 1920 and gaining AAU membership in the FIG in 1923. After Gulack retired from competition in 1932, the two men worked together for the next 30 years. They, at some time, served on most of the national and international gymnastic committees.

Surely these two men played a significant part in the AAU as it maintained the dominate role in United States gymnastics for many years. Thus since 1888, the AACJ has provided the leadership, rules and organization for national championships and has represented the United States internationally through its membership in the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the FIG. Before World War II there was little doubt in gymnastics that the AAU was rightly the sponsor of our national meets and correctly our representative to the FIG. Most of the gymnasts and most of the programs were AAU sponsored, promoted, or supported through their own or participating YMCA, Turnverein, Sokol or club organizations. This situation was, however, to gradually but drastically change.

As early as 1870, the colleges were having gymnastic exhibitions, both individually and in groups. After the AAU developed a set of rules for competition, the colleges had new incentive for demonstrating their gymnastic skills. There is some discussion as to when the first college gymnastic meet took place, because a meet at that time was very much like a demonstration or exhibition, but with the addition of judges. Most authorities agree that the first meet was either at the University of Chicago on March 5, 1898, or New York University on March 22 1899. Yet the growth of college gymnastics was very slow and sporadic until after World War II. There have been many explanations for this lack of growth, but most agree that the move away from a formalistic type of gymnastics and a trend toward games in the early part of the twentieth century delayed the development of gymnastic competition. Games, such as basketball and volleyball, were to push gymnastics out of the gyms.

Despite the slow growth of college gymnastics, gymnastic leagues did develop across the country in the early twenties. The major leagues were as follows: the Eastern Intercollegiate League; the Western Conference (Big Ten) in the Midwest; and the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in the West. In 1928, the NCAA set about developing a standard set of collegiate gymnastic rules, but because each of these conferences had their own set of rules, the NCAA Rules Committee had great difficulty in getting conferences to accept national rules. In 1931 the rules were finally agreed upon, but it was not until 1938 that the first NCAA national gymnastic meet was held. In 1934, a national meet was scheduled in Chicago, but was cancelled because there were not enough colleges who could afford to attend. The 1938 championship meet was won by Chicago University while the University of Illinois won the next four. Until World War lI the national NCAA meet attracted little attention with never more than eight schools attending. Then during World War II most colleges dropped gymnastics and other “minor” sports for the “duration.”